Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Exciting news about Jurassic World and its newfound paleontological accuracy

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been privileged with no less than
four fossil finds that came out just in time!To see the significance, we’ll have to go back 20 years.You see, in 1993, the film Jurassic Park came
out. Michael Crichton’s book featured Velociraptor, and he based his depiction
on Deinonychus. Spielberg, wanting something even more intimidating, increased
the size of his raptors. The scientific community scoffed at this obvious
error, but found themselves dumbfounded when, as the film came out, Utah
Paleontologist James Kirkland found a dromaeosaur of that impressive size!
Utahraptor brought Hollywood’s Raptor come to life!

So, it is with great joy that I reveal that similar things
have happened this year, coinciding with this summer’s release of Jurassic
World!Yes, once again, life has
imitated art! Turns out that the writers of this film were prescient, thanks to
their rigorous dedication to scientific accuracy. The papers are not published
yet, so I can’t say the discoverers, but I can describe the names and bones
found!

First is the discovery of a gigantic mosasaur. Mosasaur
experts were disgusted by the sheer size of the mosasaur seen in the trailer,
with size estimates ranging from 80 to 600 feet.Well, a group of Canadian scientists working
in Denmark have found something very interesting.The specimen is poorly preserved, but very
revealing. The first parts to be found were a pair of foot long teethand a fibula the size of a Shetland Pony.
More skull remains have been found,indicating a skull more than 17 feet long, possibly more!That’s more than three times bigger than the original,
famous skull found by Dr. Johann Hoffman back in 1766. A new genus has been
erected in their upcoming paper-Jörmungandrsaurus erythrothanas. The team
suggests it must has fed regularly on full-sized Mosasaurus hoffmani and Goniosaurus
binskhorsti, decimating entire schools as it went by.

The second discovery was closer to home,
living in what is today Wyoming.Unlike
most pterosaur remains, it was found far inland in a streambed environment.
This suggests that it was not a fish eater. So far the mandible, thorax, pelvis,
and lower limbs have been uncovered. The mandible is extraordinary-while the
morphology of the mandible resembles that of a Pteranodon, it possesses large,
pointed teeth!Even stranger are the
claws; at first they were considered dissociated theropod material, but they
proved even stranger as they proved to be connected with the rest of the skeleton.
These claws are extraordinary-a picture with a human hand and upper arm shows a
length of over a foot, tipped with 2-inch talons. The most shocking thing of
all is that, unlike all known pterosaurs, these claws were huge and opposable!
The structure of the claws was not like the small lizardlike paws of a
pterosaur, but the giant feet of an eagle! Yes, one of the digits opposes the
others, much like the pterosaurs that Hollywood has depicted since 1925 despite
no evidence until now!The animal, named
Manosmoros smaug, must have been a raptorial predator plucking dinosaurs off
the ground with its talons and devouring them with its toothy beak.

Next is a new dromaeosaur, found in Cornwall of
all places.This dromaeosaur, the size
of a Deinonychus, comes from early Cretaceous rock, making it a probable
predator of young Iguanodon and Hypsilophodon.However, it is a unique anatomical feature and a surprising artifact
from preservation that mark out the discovery. The skull is not known, but the
hands show an interesting feature-all other dinosaurs have fixed wrists, a
reptilian trait that locks the radius and ulna and prevents them from swiveling
around each other like a mammal. However, this animal’s perfectly preserved
hands have joints that would have allowed the hands to pronate (palm facing the
ground), and move the wrist in a manner like a primate. Yes, this raptor could
open doors!The cherry on this sundae,
named Buforaptor thuranoigos, is that it has preserved scales. All over the
known material is a covering of perfectly preserved, small, lizardlike scales,
completely contradicting known feathered dromaeosaur fossils! The 90s are back,
it seems, for the Dromaeosaurs.

Finally, there is a spectacular new theropod
from the Ocozocoautla formation from Veracruz. Only the tail and legs are
missing from this stunning new specimen.Wu et al will later this year release the paper, but they have leaked
out crucial new information.First is
the presence of preserved skin impressions on the torso, showing scaly skin and
huge osteoderms. Taxonomically, there is a great deal of confusion-despite its
completeness, Wu et al classify it as Neotheropoda incertae sedis, meaning they
can’t narrow down to even an infraorder or suborder. The morphology shows a combination of
abeliosaur, carnosaur, dromaeosaur, megalosaur and tyrannosaur characteristics,
a sort of a platypus kind of dinosaur.The large, allosaur-like hands, on dromaeosaur like arms, have opposable
thumbs, a feature previously unknown in diapsids, joining Dracoraptor and
Manosmoros in forelimb oddity.The most
amazing thing about it is that in its 4-foot skull, it has a very large
brain.The braincase measures 2,000 cubic
centimeters, larger than a human brain and 10 times the size of a Tyrannosaurus
brain. This must have been an evil genius among the dinosaurs, plotting
,strategizing, perhaps even using rudimentary weapons. It must have been an agressive predator, as well, as stomach contents reveal definitive tyrannosaur and dromeosaur bones, probable victims of this ruthless murderer. All these characteristics are identical to
the main villain of Jurassic World, Indominus rex.Science fiction has become scientific through
this discovery, and paleontologists over the world have been baffled. This new
theropod, dubbed Koprodianoia quisquilianus, will soon be on the public stage
and will be a perfect publicity piece for the upcoming movie!

I for one am very excited about these new
discoveries, and equally thrilled about the new, upcoming Jurassic World! See
you in the theaters and HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S
DAY!

2 comments:

Paleontology offers itself as a tool and scope through which you can view the world; it reminds you that humans are just one of the many million species that have roamed on this Earth. Paleontology is a branch of science that aims to paint a picture of the past, a place that we no longer have direct access to. However, paleontology acts as the bridge that connects us and gives us the ability to travel through time.

About Me

Hi everyone! You may know me already, but 99% of you won't. I've decided to make a blog for myself. I'm a anthropology student who has returned to his original passion for palaeontology. Ever since I was little, I've been fascinated with the weird and wonderful animals that have inhabited our planet and I've made this blog to keep this in my mind and hopefully in yours. Most people blog about their interests, and while I've got a range of interests-see history and anthropology above, not to mention zoology, astronomy, art, cooking, science fiction and fantasy films and literature, and a myriad of others, the one I want to do for a living is the study of Earth's ancient past.

On this blog I'll review papers, talk about fossils, museums, and taxa, review art, film, literature, and our culture's view of paleontology, and share memories and insights. I've been inspired by the far better blogs of professional palaeontologists, and I'll share them as time goes on. I'm also open to requests and questions of opinions, the latest palaeo news, and discussions with other fans informal and professional.

I think this is going to have fun, and I'm hoping my readers will have just as much fun.

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